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Shanahan: Cowboys deserve high praise

The Redskins are winding down their preparations to kick off the season Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys, who are as impressive on film as paper, Coach Mike Shanahan said.

"I think a lot of people look at them as Super Bowl contenders because you look at their defense last year," he said. "I think they were second in the league with points given up. That's pretty impressive. If you take a look at their red zone, I think they were first in drives. If you take a look at their rush defense, I think they were fourth.

"If you take a look at them offensively with 400 yards in a game, I believe they were second. If you look at yards per attempt, they were number one. They've got an excellent offense statistically, an excellent defense statistically and they've been playing good special teams. When you have those types of combinations, people usually put you at the top of the list."

And it's not just about the Cowboys' stars, Shanahan said.

"Anytime you do what they've done, you have to have a lot of playing together," he said. "That rush defense ... you take a look at their rushing guys.

"A lot of times those defensive ends don't get a lot of recognition as they should but they can still put pressure and they can occupy people. Anytime you're second in the NFL, this stat and that stat, you've got a lot of guys playing well together."

Outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware is among the top pass rushers in the game, but nose tackle Jay Ratliff is also a star.

"Yeah, he is," Shanahan said. "He's one of those guys with the speed and quickness to rush the passer, also has the strength at 300, 305 pounds to take double team blocks on and play quite well. That's one of the reasons why he was in the Pro Bowl."

I hope that on the first play from scrimmage haynesworth sacks Romo, then instead of stomping on him, he tears romo's spine out through his mouth then tears him in half like a a pride of hungry lions ripping open a gazelle carcass. That would take care of like three problems for the skins all at once.

Without much training camp, Farve looked medium. The guy has an arm, no doubt, but he still trys to force things when there's nothing there. DB looked rough in the first half, did better in the second half.

I hope that on the first play from scrimmage haynesworth sacks Romo, then instead of stomping on him, he tears romo's spine out through his mouth then tears him in half like a a pride of hungry lions ripping open a gazelle carcass. That would take care of like three problems for the skins all at once.

"I think a lot of people look at them (the Cowboys) as Super Bowl contenders because you look at their defense last year," he said.

The Cowboys garner a lot of Super Bowl speculation because they are, well, the Cowboys.

There's this rumor that they are America's Team.

And because of the rumor, media types toss the Cowboy name in the hat of preseason Super Bowl chatta, then spend ample time at the end of the season wondering why things didn't work out the way they claimed they would.

The effect?: it keeps them talking 'bout dem Cowboys while younger, more attractive teams (like the Cards, Niners, Falcons, Ravens, Saints, Texans, Packers, Chargers, and Titans) remain anonymous to all but true football watchers.

Mr. Shanahan is right to say the cowboys feature a great offense and two stud defensive linemen in Ware and Ratliff.

But you can throw at the Cowboy secondary and their starting quarterback has more brain farts than an absent-minded retiree.

The team comes to D.C. with a questionable offensive line and gun shy gunslinger.

They will try to run at the skins with misdirection play to A Carter's side and run away from their running game as they always to.

Like a bald man, they have no faith in Barber--and they should.

Last year's physical beatdown playoff lost to the vikes also revealed the cowboy team is all Star and no heart.

And without a heart, no team can truly lay claim to the football fans of America.

Some may wonder why there are so many Cowboys fans in the D.C. area. Many will tell you that they hate the Redskins because George Preston Marshall was a racist and the Redskins were the last team in the league to integrate.

As usual, my fellow African Americans pick the dumbest sh*t to take a stand on!

Texas was one of the most racist states in the union...so much that they continued slavery for TWO YEARS after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Anyone catch the end of the saints game last night? The way they run the ball is alot like we will, with counters and cutbacks. The Vikings run D (Top 5 in the league if not top 2) looked tired and slow in the fourth quarter. Made me really excited for the offense this year. Anyone else see that?

Yeah Jenks...that's why I feel good about Portis this year. The only way he doesn't have a good season is if he's hurt...

Ricky, I've always thought that civil rights reasoning for being a Dall-ass fan in D.C. was a cop out anyway...as if you forge rooting alliances based on something as completely unrelated as that. Or as if Marshall was the only racist owner during that time period. All that is is a lame attempt at rationalizing something that is totally irrational...

Most fans aren't old enough to remember that time period anyway. I recognize it for what it is...trying to mask the fact that they're bandwagoning frontrunners like LeBron. If they were REAL fans, they wouldn't disappear completely every time they lose...

Anyone catch the end of the saints game last night? The way they run the ball is alot like we will, with counters and cutbacks. The Vikings run D (Top 5 in the league if not top 2) looked tired and slow in the fourth quarter. Made me really excited for the offense this year. Anyone else see that?

Posted by: zjenks | September 10, 2010 7:33 AM
------------------------------------------
Saw it and agree that they just wore down the Vikings' defense by the second half. Of course, the Vikings were so darned worried about being torched in the passing game after the Saints ran through them on that first series that they were dropping a lot of guys back in coverage. The Vikings have injury problems in their secondary and in their wide receiver corps and it shows. Of course, their starting center didn't play all preseason and he was getting run over on darned near every play. If the Vikes can get healthy they will be a force down the stretch, but right now, they aren't anything special. BTW, I think that little pump fake hand off thing that Favre and Brees had going last night is going to catch on around the league.

I think this may be ONE of the biggest games of Snyder's tenure as owner.

He finally seems to be doing things the right way. A win at home against Dallas with a credible coach/GM would probably mean so much to him that he'd probably charge people to piss in the port-a-potties!

Somebody said that neither one of those teams looked like they'd be in anybody's Super Bowl this year. Like last season, when the Steelers and Titans fought an epic struggle in the first game -- then Tennessee went on to start 0-6, and Pittsburgh was up and down the rest of the season.

"[Texas] continued slavery for TWO YEARS after the Emancipation Proclamation."

Since the proclamation was signed in the middle of the Civil War and applied to all ten of the states of the Confederacy, this statement can be made with equal truth and equal irrelevancy about Virginia and Georgia and the Carolinas and Florida and...

Some may wonder why there are so many Cowboys fans in the D.C. area. Many will tell you that they hate the Redskins because George Preston Marshall was a racist and the Redskins were the last team in the league to integrate.

As usual, my fellow African Americans pick the dumbest sh*t to take a stand on!

Texas was one of the most racist states in the union...so much that they continued slavery for TWO YEARS after the Emancipation Proclamation.

IDIOTS!

Posted by: rickyroge | September 10, 2010 7:27 AM |

ricky -

Note that the great state of MD (my home) was the last state to have legal slavery - more than a decade AFTER the civil war ended. In terms of peonage (an ugly truth that is waxed over in US History), Mississippi and Alabama had farms using illegal slaves in the 1950s...which were more of a spark for the civil rights movement in the 1950s than Rosa Parks ever was. mass graves, feet chopped off and all kinds of ugliness.

Note that no one from the families who engaged in peonage were ever convicted of any crimes and their children attended Harvard. Seriously, you think a bunch of folks went on strike over a seat on a bus?

My dad was a Colts fan because of his hatred of GPMarshall and his racist policies. A lot of folks find the name of our team offensive. But accusing Texas as having been more complicit in extending slavery than DC and MD - both of which had legal slavery years after the civil war is ridiculous.

They do deserve to be made fun of for a ton of other reasons...."no, Danny, no" is one of my faves.

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